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"The Cuban Patriots' Cause is 
Just, the Right Shah Prevail, 
and in God's Own Time Cuba 



Shall Be Free." 



CUu<it 



GOVERNOR MATTHEWS' ADDRESS. 



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PHILADELPHIA 

' N • > i : . 





GOVERNOR MATTHEWS, of Indiana. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 

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http://www.archive.org/details/thecubanpatriotsOOmatt 



* 



"THE CUBAN PATRIOTS' CAUSE IS JUST, THE RIGHT 

SHALL PREVAIL, AND IN GOD'S OWN TIME 

CUBA SHALL BE FREE." 



On Thursday evening, November 21st, 1895, Hon. Claude 
Matthews, Governor of Indiana, delivered an oration, under 
the auspices of the Philadelphia Brigade Association, in favor of 
Cuban independence. At the conclusion of his address certain 
resolutions were adopted, and the Commander of the Philadel- 
phia Brigade Association was authorized. to appoint a committee 
of fifty-six to present those resolutions to the President, the Sena- 
tors and Representatives in Congress, and in conformity there- 
with the Commander appointed the following named as the com- 
mittee, who in the performance of the duty assigned to them 
present for your consideration a copy of the preamble and reso- 
lutions, as passed at the meeting held at the Academv of Music, 
Philadelphia, on Thursday evening, November 21st, 1895, to 
wit: — 

"WHEREAS, The inhabitants of the island of Cuba have for several 
months last past been engaged in a warfare with the government of 
Spain, endeavoring to establish a Republican form of government, and 

"WHEREAS, On the sixteenth day of September, 1895, the citizens 
of Cuba, at a session of a Constituent Assembly, declared their inde- 
pendence of the monarchy of Spain, and announced in due form of law 
the establishment of a Republican form of government, and 

"WHEREAS, As citizens of the United States we hereby extend our 
heartfelt sympathy to the citizens of the Republic of Cuba, and pledge 
to them our influence and support in this effort of theirs to create a gov- 
ernment with institutions similar to our own, and in the language of 
the Declaration of Independence of the United States, 'We hold these 
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure 
these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
powers from the consent of the governed that, whenever any form of 
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the peo- 
ple to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its 
foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as 
to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness ;' and 
we believe that Spain, by her government of Cuba for over a quarter ol 



a century, has been 'a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all 
having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over' 
the inhabitants and citizens of Cuba, therefore be it 

" RESOLVED, That we request the Congress of the United States, at 
the opening of the coming session, to at once pass a joint resolution re- 
questing the President to recognize the Republic of Cuba without further 
delay, and 

" RESOLVED, That we hereby request our United States Senators 
and Representatives in Congress from this Commonwealth to use their 
influence and vote to secure the passage of a joint resolution recognizing 
the Republic of Cuba as aforesaid, and 

" RESOLVED, That the Commander of the Philadelphia Brigade Asso- 
ciation, as Chairman of this meeting, appoint a committee of fifty-six to 
carry out the purposes of this meeting, and 

" RESOLVED, That a copy of these preambles and resolutions be for- 
warded to the President, and Senators and Representatives in Congress." 

HON. CHAS. F. WARWICK. 



COL. A. K. McCLURE. 
HARRINGTON FITZGERALD. 
L. CLARKE DAVIS. 
COL. CLAYTON McMICHAEL. 
COL. CHAS. EMORY SMITH. 
JAMES ELVERSON. 
WILLIAM M. SINGERLY. 
JOHN RUSSELL YOUNG. 
WILLIAM M. TAGGART. 
JAMES POLLOCK. 
JAMES McCONNELL. 
REV. BENJ. T. TANNER. 

" JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF. 
t " II. S. HOFFMAN. 

" CHAS. II. RICHARDS. 

" S. W. THOMAS. 

" JOSEPH A. SEISS. 
HON. ROBT. E. PATTISON. 

" EDWIN S. STUART. 

" BOIES PENROSE. 

II EN BY F. WALTON. 

" C. WESLEY THOMAS. 

" S. W. PENNYPACKER. 

" F. AM E DEE BREGY. 

" JOHN L. KINSEY. 

" GEO. W. B. HICKS. 
.IOIIN GUITEKAS, M. D. 

. Attest: 



chas. s. keyser. 
vincent portuondo. 
_ james m. beck, 
francis dominguez. 
fred. middleton. 
j. e. brunet, m. d. 
h. ernest goodman, m. d. 
isaiah c. wears, 
william b. gill, 
henry neamand. 
chas. f. kindred, 
col. emilio nunez. 

" edward thompson. 

" james f. morrison. 

" william w. kek. 

" james Mccormick. 

" abraham levering 

" john e. reilly. 

" jos. r. 0. ward. 

" thomas furey. 

" paul l. levis, 
ma j. harry i. yoiin. 
jacob, wildemore. 
william g. mason. 

A. C. SHANK. 
ELIJAH CUNDEY. 

BENTON O. SEVERN. 

E. FRANK CARSON, Secretary. 



[From the Philadelphia Times, Nov. 22d, 1895. ] 

MATTpEW^ ON UUB$ F^EEDOHj. 

THE YOKE OF SPANISH TYRANNY AND MIS- 
RULE SHOULD BE LIFTED. 



GODSPEED THEIR HOLY AMBITION. 



At a Mass Meeting in the Academy of Music last evening, under 
the auspices of the Philadelphia Brigade Association, Governor 
Claude Matthews spoke on "Free Cuba." —He said the Question 
was one of the Most Perplexing Political Problems of the Day.— 
As a Nation, he said, we may be Conservative, but as Citizens we 
should hold out hopeful Sympathy to the Cuban Patriots. 



The little island of Cuba which is struggling so heroically to 
free itself from the tyranny of Spain, received the heartfelt sym- 
pathy of an audience composed of intelligent and patriotic citi- 
zens which assembled at the Academy of Music last evening. 
The occasion was a mass meeting under the auspices of the 
Philadelphia Brigade Association, which is heart and soul with 
the movement of the Cuban people in their fight for freedom 
and independence. The audience, by its looks and acts, showed 
precisely where it stood on the republican form of government 
question, and if the thousands of patriotic citizens who pressed 
into the Academy could have settled the matter last evening they 
would gladly have arisen en masse and declared independence 
in Cuba then and there. 

As it was, the auditors listened attentively to the speeches 
delivered by those who addressed the meeting, and at every 
opportunity broke out in profound and tumultuous applause. 
Colonel John W. Frazier presided, and prior to introducing 
Governor Claude Matthews, of Indiana, who was the chief speak- 
er, made a few remarks in which he referred to the gallant work 
of the Philadelphia Brigade at Antietam, and pointed to the fact 
that the veterans were again assembled to urge and cheer a small 



band of brave and heroic patriots who are trying to throw off 
the yoke of the monarchy of Spain. 

On the stage were seated Minister Plenipotentiary Palma, 
Cuba's representative in the United States: Col. Emilio Nunez, 
Senor De Sato, Richard N. Navarro, of Brooklyn ; Dr. John 
Guiteras, Charles S. Keyser, James Pollock, Colonel Robert B. 
Beatli, Captain Wm. W. Ker, Captain William Thornton, E. 
Frank Carson, Colonel John E. Reilly, Paul A. Levis, Colonel 
Jos. R. C. Ward, A. C. Shank, Charles W. Devitt, Captain 
Thomas Furey, Captain Edward Thompson, William G. Mason, 
Elijah Cundey, Fred. Middleton, Jacob Wildemore, and Benton 
O. Severn, of the Brigade Association. 

COMMANDER FRAZIER'S REMARKS. 

Ladies, Gentlemen and Comrades : — As many of you know, the 
surviving members of the old Philadelphia Brigade are earnestly 
engaged in the sacred duty of erecting to the memory of those of 
our comrades — 545 in all — who fell at the battle of Antietam, a 
monument upon that battle-field, — a monument that will be a 
lasting honor to them, to us who survive them, and to the City 
whose name we bore so proudly from Ball's Bluff to Appomattox. 

The Philadelphia Brigade is proud of its achievements in war 
and peace. Either as a brigade, or by regimental divisions of 
the brigade, we took part in forty-eight different battles for 
the maintenance of the American Union, and lost in killed, 
wounded or missing in those battles 3,015 of our comrades, or 
nearly three-fifths of our total enrollment and muster. 

One of the most historic spots upon the battle-field of Antie- 
tam is where stands the old Dunker Church ; it is the very centre 
of the battle-field, and around its sacred confines the battle 
ebbed and flowed with a heroism almost unparalleled in the con- 
flicts of war. The old Philadelphia Brigade had the honor of 
fighting all around that historic church, and the monument we 
intend to dedicate on the 17th day of September next will be 
within the sound of the pastor's voice of that sanctuary. 

If we are justly proud of our record in war, we are no less 
proud of.it in peace. It stands to the everlasting honor of the 
old Brigade that it was the first to establish soldierly fraternity 
between tiie sections, by a reunion of the Blue and the Gray — 
the Philadelphia Brigade and Pickett's Divison — at Gettysburg 



on July 3d, 4th and 5th, 1887, at which time and place over three 
hundred of the survivors of Pickett's Division were our guests — 
with all that the term implies — for three days; the culumination 
of that glorious reunion being reached when, on the last day of 
the reunion, seven hundred survivors of the two commands 
marched together across that one mile stretch over which Pick- 
ett's Division, on the afternoon of July 3d, 1863, made the grand- 
est charge ever recorded in the histories of war — reaching the 
stone wall of Cemetery Ridge, at the Bloody Angle, to secure 
which they lost over 3,000 of the 4,500 veterans who began that 
fatal charge, and to maintain which the old Phiadelphia Brigade 
lost proportionately as many of its men. 

Arriving at that stone wall the survivors of the Old Brigade 
aligned themselves on the side upon which they fought, and so 
many fell, the veterans of Pickett's Division remaining upon 
the other side, and then by a common impulse of humanity 
both sides advanced close to the wall and grasped hands in a 
loving, fraternal and soldierly embrace. Thousands witnessed 
that touching scene with moistened eyes and quivering lip, and 
if ever the angels of Heaven came close to earth to give ap- 
proval to the actions of men, they were around us and among 
us on that occasion, and to carry back the glad tidings: Peace 
reigns upon the earth, and good will and fraternity is established 
between the North and the South. 

Oh, we are proud of that great event in peace. And in the 
performance of our duty in raising funds wherewith to erect our 
monument on x\ntietam's field, we have had one oration bv His 
Grace, Archbishop Ryan, whose eloquent appeal for church 
unity, for a firmer faith in the religion of the Man of Nazareth, 
was so grand, so impressive, so free from sectarianism, so broad, 
so catholic as to command the hearty approval of clergymen of 
almost every known faith in the city of Philadelphia — Jew or 
Gentile — be their complexion colored or white. 

Proud, indeed, was the old Brigade of that occasion, when 
Archbishop Ryan honored us so highly and advanced the sacred 
cause for which he labors so nobly; and I say it with all sin- 
cerity, that the work so well begun by the Archbishop for a more 
liberal and a more united Christianity upon this little earth of 
ours, for a better — may I not say for a Christ-like — understand- 
ing among religious denominations, ought not to end with that 
one great, grand and glorious utterance of this Teacher of the 



8 

faith. Indeed, I should feel that my services as Commander of 
the Philadelphia Brigade Association were only half performed 
were I to retire without once more having Archbishop Ryan, 
the broadest, the sincerest, the firmest, yet withal the most gen- 
tle and most lovable of Christian Prelates, tell in his own 
masterly, sublime and convincing way what Christianity has 
done — what it yet must do for humanity. 

Scarcely less proud are we to-night that, under the auspices of 
the old Philadelphia Brigade, Governor Matthews, the honored 
Executive of a great State, will make his plea for Cuban Inde- 
pendence that was to have been made at Atlanta, where it should 
have been given in accordance with arrangements made by the 
Exposition Commissioners. 

The Philadelphia Brigade is not deeply in love with England 
or Spain. We are not unmindful of the fact that both of these 
countries acknowledged the Jefferson Davis government as a 
belligerent power considerably more than a month before the 
battle of Bull Run was fought in July, 1861 — a recognition 
that cost this nation thousands of millions in money and hun- 
dreds of thousands of American lives, and in our work and labor 
and duty to our heroic dead we are proud to turn aside and 
throw the weight of our influence in behalf of struggling Cuba, 
which will yet be free. 

Governor Matthews has come from his Indianapolis home, 
with a head bowed with excessive grief over the recent loss of 
his only son, to keep an engagement made a month ago with 
the Philadelphia Brigade; comes here to raise his eloquent voice 
for that Cuba struggling in unequal strife for law, for constitu- 
tion, for government, for liberty, for home, for humanity, and 
it is one of the highest honors of the old Philadelphia Brigade 
Association, and one of the proudest pleasures of its Command- 
er's career, to be accorded the privilege of introducing to this 
great audience Hon. Claude Matthews, the patriotic Governor 
of a patriotic State, whose every heart-beat is for American 
principles, policies, justice, and humanity. 

GOVERNOR MATTHEWS' SPEECH. 

I esteem it a happy privilege to meet with you, the citizens of 
this proud city, rich in the historic memories of the founding 
of our government, and under the auspices of an association 
whose members are moved by the noblest impulses, and the 



loftiest sentiments of patriotism, — an association magnanimous 
and brave, the first to meet the generous spirit of the American 
people, to rob sectional difference of its bitterness and sting, 
and to proclaim upon the field of Gettysburg that brave men, 
though once opposed in hostile strife, could mingle in friendly 
reunion as citizens of a common country, and together write 
the record of American valor and American magnanimity. The 
spirit there created years ago found its crowning glory in the 
welcoming this year of the veterans of the Grand Army of the 
Republic on Southern soil, and in the mingling of the Blue and 
Gray on Chickamauga's battle-field — a reunited people, march- 
ing on to achieve that higher destiny which awaits us as a i 
nation, as one people, of one country, and under one flag. 

There is a significance in this meeting here to-night which 
passes far beyond the ordinary, in the consideration of one of 
the most perplexing political problems of the day. It is the 
assembling of citizens of a great, free Republic, who, with the 
memories of struggles past, and victories won in the sacred 
name of Liberty; with a cheering, abiding faith in representa- 
tive government achieved, of human rights and the universal 
brotherhood of man, gather here with grateful hearls beating in 
purest sympathy with a people struggling to be free. It is a 
fitting time and occasion, within the shadow of Independence 
Hall, the cradle of freedom in the Western world, within the 
sound of the old bell ringing in the grandest event in our 
nation's history, to '-proclaim liberty throughout all the land, 
unto all the inhabitants thereof." and surrounded by the mag- 
nificent evidences of the strength, the enterprise, the prosperity 
and the happiness of our people, to pause in our busy, self-occu- 
pying career and seeming indifference, to review the history of 
our past, remembering the principles for which our fathers 
fought, who, by deeds of valor and sacrifice threw aside the 
gailing yoke, and to publicly express our sympathy, with words of 
encouragement, for a neighboring people contending for the same 
rights and principles — for independence and home government. 

There is a moral encouragement in a sympathy thus poured 
out, while it may give no physical aid, which conflicts not witli 
the cold technicalities of international law — in itself but arbi- 
trary and legal fiction — nor the hampering restrictions of treaty 
obligations. It carries to the hearts of the oppressed the as- 
surance that oppression is wrong ; that tyranny is of the past ; 



10 

that the freedom of mankind is of the present and future; and 
that the cause of man's wrongs is a universal cause and of 
eternal justice. And the same God who gave His blessing to 
us in the darkest hours of our nation's trials, will continue to 
smile upon the aspirations of His children, in whatever land, 
to be free, — for the cause of human freedom is the cause of 
Christian civilization./ 

Less than one hundred miles off our extreme southern coast 
is the beautiful island of the sea, Cuba, "the fairest emerald in 
the crown of Ferdinand and Isabella," when Spain was at the 
acme of her glory and renown — an island of beauty beyond 
compare and rich in resources unmeasured ; where the sun with 
gentle rays makes eternal summer; where the fertile soil gives 
abundant response to crude and indolent tillage, and holds in 
its minerals a treasure of untold wealth, when developed under 
the patronage of just and beneficent government. Embracing 
over forty thousand square miles of territory, with a population 
of less than two millions, and capable of sustaining many times 
that number, with climate unsurpassed and nature bountiful in 
advantages — as a nation of freemen, and not of slaves, who 
could undertake to measure its possibilities? In that golden 
age of discovery, Cuba was the first in all the Western hemi- 
sphere to disclose her beauty to the venturesome and covetous 
Spaniard, and soon thereafter became the base of the various 
expeditions of Spain against Mexico and the southern continent. 
Here were fitted out her expeditions for discovery and conquests 
. of rapacious greed, of heartless cruelty and atrocious inhuman- 
ity, unequaled in the history of the world. In the early part of 
the present century, withering under the baneful and blighting 
rule, through heroic courage and undaunted patriotism, all con- 
tinental Spanish America rebelled against the despotism of the 
mother country and became free and independent nations. 
Our own government recognized the independence of these 
then weak and struggling nations. It was in connection with 
subsequent events arising out of that came the celebrated 
"Monroe doctrine" — "that the American continents should 
no longer be subjects for any new European colonial settlement.' 1 
This was the bold, wise and patriotic manifestation when we 
were a. comparatively weak power, and its spirit still animates 
the breasts of American freemen ; and it may yet receive a 
broader construction by the American people, that no longer 



11 

should old world mediaeval governments, with despotic sway, 
smother the aspirations of the people, nor retard the progress of 
free government in all the Western world ; that the American 
continents, both North and South, must be under American 
influences alone, with nowhere place for European domination. 
Yet when Spain's other American dependencies, wearied with 
the burdens and oppressions of misrule, refused longer to re- 
spond to the demands of avarice and greed, and struck for 
freedom, — poor Cuba, lulled to sleep with false and deceitful 
promises of reform, and the honeyed flattery of "ever faithful," 
awoke to find herself deceived., bound hand and foot, her 
loyalty despised, robbed of her birthright, and only prey for 
spoils. The pages of history nowhere reveal more atrocious 
crimes against humanity, more cruel warfare or wicked oppres- 
sion, more examples of outraged truth and justice, nor greater 
crimes against all Christian civilization than have marked Span- 
ish misrule and despotism in Cuba. A gem upon the sea, it 
would have been a mine of wealth to its possessors through 
the nurturing, fostering care of humane rule, and would have 
well replenished the depleted treasury of a decayed and effete 
nation. But the reverse has been true. With but the selfish 
greed of revenue, Cuba has been drained and robbed and de- 
spoiled until in the destruction of her own prosperity, crushing 
out the hopes and ambitions and energies of her people, she 
scarcely yields a revenue to the greedy oppressor. Debt upon 
debt has accumulated, reaching the enormous sum of over $100 
per capita. The system of taxation is the most oppressive, 
brutal and degrading ever instituted by government. Burden- 
some taxes are laid upon all trade, upon every industry and 
enterprise, upon public business and domestic life — upon the 
home, the cradle and the grave. Its exercise breeds corruption 
and bribery in the public official; and the inhabitant, excluded 
fiom holding even the humblest office, is robbed of the last 
remnant of political, civil and religious liberty. All revenues de- 
rived from taxes must flow to Spain through Spanish officials, and 
there the Cuban must pay for the privilege of both buying and 
selling. For nearly four hundred years has it been so, with 
nothing expended for Cuba's development — for public roads or 
other internal improvements — her taxes only serving to furnish 
means for still greater oppression, and to more firmly rivet the 
chains which bind her in her degradation and shame. 



12 

The wrongs against which we rebelled were not half so 
grievous, nor the barbarous cruelties nearly so great ; and yet 
the same great principles are involved that aroused to action our 
fathers in 1776. Revolution has followed revolution, but all to 
no avail, because from Cuba's peculiar position the armed ves- 
sels of Spain have closed her people in from all the world. 
Defeated often have they been, and put off with promises of re- 
form which never were kept, and with promises of representa- 
tion in the national Cortes; yet their representatives knocking 
at the door have been laughed to scorn, and the native Cuban 
has had no voice in the humblest affairs of government. Yet, 
with all disadvantages, the Cuban patriot has been brave and 
has fought a good fight. From the walls of every city and 
hamlet, from every forest and plain, the blood of her pa- 
triots, and of innocent women and children, cry aloud for 
sympathy and for justice. 

Her sons have inhaled the atmosphere of this liberty-loving 
country, and their souls have been enkindled with the fires 
which we have lighted. Cuba presents a long list of martyrs to 
1 ib>erty — brave, self-sacrificing and undaunted heroes, who have 
fallen for their country's cause. Our close neighbor, we can 
almost hear her agonizing cry for help across the narrow chan- 
nel, the sounds of battle carrying the salvation of Cuba, or again 
sealing her defeat for years to come. Is it not time that these 
struggling freemen should have thrown around them the protec- 
tion, at least, that may come to recognized belligerents? Would 
it not be more fitting that a people affording the grandest ex- 
ample of free government which the world has ever known, 
should be the first to accord such rights to a people seeking that 
which we already have— a people geographically and through 
^ every commercial and industrial interest inseparably connected 
with our own and the other American republics? It may be 
said that the conditions do not exist to warrant such action on 
the part of our government; that the fact of belligerency has 
not been established. This may be true, and no citizen should 
desire his government to do that which does not comport with 
its dignity and honor, and would have it deal justly and fairly 
with its treaty obligations. The public official clothed with the 
full responsibility must frequently discharge duties not always 
in accord with popular sentiment, nor with personal preference, 
and must bring to the consideration of every question conscien- 



13 

tious thought and be actuated by the highest motives. Often it 
is difficult to find fitting comparison on which to form judgment 
or base action. The struggle in Cuba is without comparison 
and without precedent in all surrounding conditions. It pre- 
sents the picture of the ruthless mother despoiling her fair 
daughter of every virtue, of life itself; and yet in the progress 
of this nineteenth century civilization, where broad humanity 
sways the minds of men, the child may be taken from the 
cruelty and injustice of the parent, and either shielded in self- 
support or placed under the safe protection of others. Of the 
extent of the war and of the actual condition in Cuba, we can 
have no accurate information. The insurgents can send none, 
the Spanish authorities give none, save that which may be dic- 
tated by policy or colored to serve a special purpose. Every 
harbor and all military points of strength are guarded and forti- 
fied by Spain, and these give unlimited resources for supplies. 

Spain, thousands of miles away, by her acts, proclaims that 
it is war, a revolution, not mere insurrection, nor the mad 
caprice of a mob. A nation of seventeen millions, with one 
million soldiers on a war footing, is pouring into Cuba vast 
armies of men, material, supplies and munitions of war — empty- 
ing both her arsenals and her treasury. It is officially acknowl- 
edged that there are already eighty thousand Spanish troops in 
Cuba, a greater number than the British government employed 
in the entire conquest of India, and these, well armed and 
equipped, to meet the reported small forces of ill-equipped and 
untrained revolutionists. And yet these patriots have proclaimed 
a republic, with a President appointed and a tax levied, of their 
own. The Cuban patriots are poor, and have been made so by 
centuries of usurious oppression. Though of slender resources 
and weak in numbers, they are fighting as only brave men can, 
who are animated by a great and noble purpose. They are the 
same men who for ten years withstood the armies of Spain, only 
to be defeated at last by promises of reform made to be broken. 

There often comes a time in the lives of nations, as well as 
of men, when it becomes necessary to walk in new untrodden 
paths; to brush aside the cobwebs of tradition which but obscure 
the view; to grasp great living thoughts, and meet the problems 
of a growing, progressive age — in short, to find a way or make 
it. France found a way to aid our struggling fathers in their 
midnight gloom, with scarce one star of hope to rift the over- 



14 

hanging cloud. Besides, we cannot ignore the fact that there 
are moral duties resting upon nations, which ofttimes rise supe- 
rior to fine-spun technicalities and the cold logic of law, and 
that these moral obligations rest more imperatively upon some 
nations than upon others. Indifference and inaction may dis- 
courage, may even delay, the coming triumph of the inevitable, 
but they are powerless to prevent it. There is presented to us 
a question which we cannot well escape — a cry coming across 
the waters for sympathy and for aid, to which we cannot much 
longer close our ears or hearts. 

This appeal comes direct to us as the chosen people, who have 
passed through the red sea of oppression and the wilderness of 
despair, on and out into the goodly land of freedom which we 
have occupied, and in which we have waxed great and strong 
through the priceless heritage of independence won. There 
are appeals for help at times when it becomes almost a crime 
not to stretch out the hand with needed aid — when aid and 
encouragement mean salvation, life, peace and happiness, and 
their refusal is sorrow, suffering, degradation and death. 

Let not my words be construed into reflection or criticism on 
our Government. I have an abiding faith in the eternal prin- 
ciples of our Government, and in the courage, the justice and 
the wisdom of the men whom we have chosen to direct its 
affairs In good time will they do that which seemeth to them 
right and just and wise, and recognize the duty and obligation 
resting upon the great republic of the world. When it is asked 
that belligerent rights be heartily and speedily accorded to the 
long suffering defenders of Cuban freedom, it is that they may 
have a broader opportunity to present their claims to the world 
and subject to the rules of civilized warfare. With these ac- 
corded, the question of independence will be for after consider- 
ation, when bravely and worthily merited. What claim, I ask, 
has Spain upon the further indulgence of the civilized nations 
of mankind? Do centuries of abuses and wrongs, of oppression 
and cruelty, warrant any claim? Does Spanish stewardship, 
which robs and guts the storehouse to sustain a crumbling mon- 
archy, even though the Cuban toiler, who sows and reaps, 
should starve? Does violent misrule, and government which 
extends the arm not to protect and support, but to crush in its 
deadly embrace? Does mere title of ownership, when the pos- 
sessor forgets that it is the home of human beings, and smothers 
the holiest aspirations in the souls of men? 



15 

If colonial possession is sacred and inviolable by a nation 
thousands of miles away, and whose only hold of power is 
through armed force — if arrogant and stubborn pride would 
rather destroy through exterminating war that which it can- 
not peacefully hold — if this be true, then is Spain's claim for 
further indulgence and toleration not to be denied. Revolu- 
tions seldom move backward. This revolution may go down in 
the gloom of defeat and despair, as have others, but from the 
graves of martyred patriots other sons shall rise to carry on the 
battle. The records of past struggles of continental America 
give hope of the coming triumph, and the fulfillment of the 
decree of the God of freedom that Cuba will yet be free. 

I am not of those who would weigh the doubt that the Cuban 
may not be prepared for self or free government. Home gov- 
ernment is the very foundation of national liberty and inde- 
pendence, and becomes strong when its privileges are exercised. 
It would at least be difficult to conceive that any mode of gov- 
ernment could be worse for Cuba than that which she would 
now spurn. Nor is the question of annexation to be considered 
at this time, nor whether Cuba may place another star upon the 
blue field of our national flag. It is the purer, more unselfish 
question of national liberty, of human rights, and of broad' 
human it v. 

We are here as American citizens, loving freedom for itself, 
to reaffirm our faith in American liberty by expressing a warm 
sympathy for a people coming up out of the land of Egypt and 
out of the house of bondage. There may be some to-day who 
doubt the propriety of giving voice to this sympathy, for fear it 
may offend or violate some international courtesy. Was Spain 
restrained by delicate scruples when in the early days of our 
great civil strife she interposed? The American citizen who 
could quench the burning sympathy in his heart for the op- 
pressed and down- trodden must needs be oblivious to the prin- 
ciples for which our fathers fought and on which our government 
is founded. 

Erase from history our own Declaration of Independence, 
and forget the hand which penned that immortal document, 
which declares "that when a long train of abuses and usurpa- 
tions evinces a design to reduce the people under absolute des- 
potism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such gov- 
ernment.'' Forget, too, that Washington lived; that Lafayette 



16 

crossed the ocean to bring aid and encouragement by word and 
deed to despairing patriots, and with Steuben and DeKalb shared 
the privations of camp and the dangers of the battle-field. Blot 
from memory Bunker Hill, the heroic suffering at Valley Forge 
and the triumph at Yorktown. Nay, forget that brave men at 
Antietam died, and close your eyes to the graves of sleeping 
heroes, from the North and from the South, all through the 
beautiful South-land, who fell in the cause of freedom and in 
maintaining what they believed to be the right. Nay, more, 
fold up yonder symbol of a great free nation and enshroud its 
stars and stripes. 

When Americans may suppress such sympathy, then may we 
listen for the death-knell of freedom, and, fearing to voice the 
spirit which animates our breasts, brand us cowards all. We, 
as a government, with high regard for national honor and na- 
tional dignity, may be reserved, conservative and diplomatic, 
but as individual citizens, we may span the dividing waters with 
a hopeful, generous sympathy, and bid godspeed to the Cuban 
patriot in his sublime hope and his holy ambition. His cause is 
just, the right shall prevail, and in God's own time Cuba will 
be free. 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 

WASHINGTON. 

September 17th, 1895. 
JOHN W. FRAZIER, Esquire, 

Philadelphia. 

Sir: — Your letter of the 24th instant, asking the date when Spain 
recognized the Southern Confederacy as a belligerent, has been received. 

While it is not the general course of this Department to answer 
merely historical questions, I have pleasure in referring you to the col- 
lected " Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States" for the year 
1 861, which can be found in any large public library. On page 263 will 
be found a Spanish Royal Decree of June 17th, 1861, proclaiming neu- 
trality between the parties to the contest in the United States. Such a 
proclamation is popularly known as a recognition of belligerency. 

The British proclamation of neutrality was issued May 13th. 1861, 
and that of France followed in June, before the Spanish proclamation 
was issued. I am. Sir. your obedient servant, 

ALVEY A. ADEE. 

Second Assistant Secretary. 



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